Rents report
Nambucca Valley rents hold at $550 a week in the latest NSW figures
Jetties near the mouth of the Nambucca River, 2019. Photo: Whiteghost.ink, CC BY-SA 4.0
New leases signed from April to June had a median rent of $550 a week, the same as the March quarter and $30 more than a year earlier. Homes sold in the first three months of 2026 had a median price of $725,000.
The median weekly rent for a new lease in the Nambucca Valley council area was $550 in the June quarter of 2026, according to the NSW Government's latest Rent and Sales Report. That is unchanged from the March quarter and up 5.8 per cent from $520 a year earlier.
The report, published by the Department of Communities and Justice, counts the bonds lodged with NSW Fair Trading when a private lease begins, and leaves out social housing. So it describes what new tenants agreed to pay, not what people already renting are paying. In the valley, 106 new bonds were lodged between April and June, and 1,497 bonds were held in total.
By size and by town
For houses alone the median was $575 a week. A three-bedroom home, the most common new lease, had a median of $585.
| Bedrooms (all dwellings) | Median weekly rent, April to June 2026 |
|---|---|
| One | $350 * |
| Two | $470 * |
| Three | $585 |
| Four or more | $700 * |
| All new leases | $550 |
* Based on 30 or fewer new bonds, which the report says should be treated with caution.
The report also breaks the figures down by postcode. In 2448, which takes in Nambucca Heads and Valla Beach, the median for new leases was $530 from 65 bonds. In 2447, which covers Macksville and Scotts Head, it was $570 from 35. Postcode 2449, around Bowraville, had 10 or fewer new bonds, too few for the report to publish a median.
Next to the neighbours
The valley sits in the middle of its part of the coast. Among the neighbouring council areas, the June-quarter median for new leases was $620 in Coffs Harbour, $555 in Bellingen and $495 in Kempsey. Across the parts of NSW outside the Greater Metropolitan Region, which the report calls the rest of the state, it was $540. The figure for NSW as a whole was $720.
Sale prices
The report's sales figures run a quarter behind its rents. In the January to March quarter of 2026, 94 homes sold in the Nambucca Valley with a median price of $725,000. That was 4.8 per cent higher than the December quarter and 3.3 per cent lower than the same quarter of 2025.
Houses and land outside strata schemes, 87 of the 94 sales, had a median of $765,000. By postcode, 2447 had a median of $790,000 from 35 sales and 2448 a median of $720,000 from 47. The median across the rest of the state was $715,000, Coffs Harbour's was $865,000 and Kempsey's $605,000.
Where the census fits
The last full count of the valley's homes is the 2021 Census. It found 48.3 per cent of households in the council area owned their home outright, against 31.5 per cent across NSW, and 23 per cent renting. The census median rent then was $300 a week, but it measures every renting household, so it cannot be set against the new-lease figures above.
The 2026 Census was taken on 11 August. The Australian Bureau of Statistics plans to publish its first results in June 2027. The five towns' 2021 figures, side by side, are in our comparison of the valley's towns.